04:47 AM Jan 03, 2012
I AM saddened that a man who had tortured an animal to death was sentenced to only two months in jail, as reported in "Man jailed for theft and animal abuse" (Dec 28).
The man "had tied a rope around the neck of a cat" and a witness said it was "struggling to free itself before it was hung" over a parapet. This showed the level of emotional stress suffered by the cat, which died a slow and agonising death.
On its own, killing the cat justifies punishment, but the torture was far more unforgivable. How is two months in jail adequate punishment?
The trauma the animal must have felt is no different to what a person would experience if he/she was being dragged to a slow death.
We have, in the past year, read reports of other animal abuse cases, for example, the foreign worker who smashed the snout of a dog with a chain. Although it was rescued later, it eventually succumbed to its wounds and died.
Our courts need to take a far more serious view of animal abuse and set a higher level of deterrence by enforcing sterner punishments.
This is the only way to reduce the suffering inflicted on innocent animals
